November 12, 2025 • 47 mins
Rob and Max break down roster moves made by the team, review Coach's comments from yesterday, and discuss the latest from the injury front.
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Speaker 1 (00:07):
This is in the locker Room with King and Starks
on Steelers Nation Radio, presented by your neighborhood Forward Store.
The F one fifty is the official truck of the
Pittsburgh Steelers and by Steelers Pro Shop. Get it direct
from the team at the Steelers Pro Shop at shop
dot Steelers dot com.
Speaker 2 (00:30):
And we thank you very much for being with us
on this hump day, this Wedness Day, alongside Max Starks
and with Justin Miller's Patrols.
Speaker 3 (00:38):
I'm Rob King Max. Before we launched it too much,
how are you doing today?
Speaker 4 (00:41):
Everything going okay, Everything's going well, Everything's fine.
Speaker 5 (00:46):
He's fine, Rob, It's awesome, It's great. Now it's just jokeing.
Speaker 4 (00:50):
Uh okay, you know, just being a little dramatic, trying
to hype myself up a little bit. Uh, But no,
everything is good. You know, as I kind of think about,
you know, the last of you know, the weekend fallout,
and you know the fact that I will now make
it my personal charge to update you guys on nineties
(01:13):
R and B and potentially hip hop and rap. That
is now my new life goal for you and Bob Labriola.
Speaker 5 (01:21):
I was pondering on that yesterday.
Speaker 4 (01:22):
I was like, Wow, they don't even know who Brandy
Amonica is.
Speaker 5 (01:25):
I have to do a.
Speaker 4 (01:26):
Better jobs as a as a friend to expect Well,
I need to bring you guys at twenty first century.
But let's let's work on the late Let's work on
the late nineteen hundreds.
Speaker 5 (01:36):
First.
Speaker 3 (01:37):
One step at a time, man.
Speaker 5 (01:38):
Yeah, well exactly one step at a time.
Speaker 4 (01:40):
I mean when you told me that the youngest person
you saw was sixty three, I was sitting there. I
was like, I just went to a Tate mccrai concert
because I had to take my daughter, like a week ago.
Speaker 2 (01:48):
Well I went to like a bare naked ladies contract
back in the day because our daughter.
Speaker 3 (01:53):
So but anyway, last night I see yeah.
Speaker 5 (01:55):
But they're now in their fifties, so that does it.
Speaker 2 (01:58):
Yeah, so last night last night I saw Paul McCartney
and oh yeah at at at PPG Paints Arena in Pittsburgh,
and he was fabulous. I mean, it is you know,
if there's a if there's a soundtrack to your life
and you're my age, the Beatles are you know, if
(02:20):
they're not, if they're not number one on your list
of songs there, they're somewhere up there. It's hard not
to have been influenced by them in many ways. Their music,
their solo careers. You know, they're they're just you know,
I mean, obviously they stand in their own right, but
you know, so it was great. My my sister, my
wife's sister came up for the concert. So it was
(02:42):
kind of a family affair. Our son went. We we
went with our daughter and uh we took uh Cooper
in Knoxville in twenty twenty two, so Schaeffer, our son
had not yet seen Paul McCartney, so he got a
chance to see him last night. A family affair. You know,
it was a it was a great concert. But yes,
somebody under eighty four, somebody under sixty three, that might
(03:05):
be nice for me to start to, you know, reinvent
my musical taste here as others not gonna.
Speaker 3 (03:11):
Have nobody ever, hope nobody left me to go see.
Speaker 2 (03:15):
Oh yeah, so it goes so so obviously jumping into
the Steelers. So, by the way, the Steelers made some
announcements today on rosters. The Steelers announced that they have
activated Will Howard from the reserve injured list and signed
(03:35):
a Sante Samuel to the practice squad. And with that
and needing some room, they waived Trey Sermon from the
fifty three man roster released defensive back Derek Forrest from
the practice squad. So those the official moves. Howard is back.
(03:55):
Interesting decision there, Max, I don't know what you think about.
You know, will he be able to get at least
some practice time. I mean, at least they'll be able
to get some kind of look at Will Howard, whether
it's running the scout team or something in practice. I
would assume, so valuable evaluation time. And what might have
been a loss season and which is still kind of
(04:16):
a bummer because he didn't have the chance to play
during the preseason, but still you make the most of
it of it and you move on.
Speaker 4 (04:23):
Yeah, that's the best you can do, is just make
the most out of it and see what you can
get out of Will if he can be your emergency
third on game days as well, if you can get
him up to speed and that respect. But yeah, you
want to see what your rookie has because you need
to plan. You know, you hate to say it, but
you're always planning for the future, absolutely in the present,
(04:45):
and so you don't want to get into a situation
where you're worried about, Okay, well, who are we going
to have competing at the quarterback position next year? And
you just want to kind of head those things off
of the past as much as possible. I mean, I
think in the same same vein is you know, how
much time does a Sante Samuel Junior need to get
(05:06):
up to speed right, you know and practice squad? So
it's taking him through the paces as much as possible
because there's potentially a need for him to be in
a ready position, whatever that looks.
Speaker 5 (05:19):
Like for the squad.
Speaker 4 (05:21):
So you know, anxious to kind of see what this
kind of looks like. And of course you know you're
already making a future's bet on Sebastian Castro. Hence while
you got while you claimed him off of waivers because
you know there there was a future talent. It wasn't
a present talent because of how stock the room was.
But that was training camp. This is the season right
(05:41):
right in two different scenarios that you're looking at, and
there's a potential, you know, with how the safety and
secondary positions have gone, there might be a clear and
present need sooner rather than later for him to get
up to speed. He did a lot of great things
at camp had you know, I felt had a really
good camp and he was one of those guys.
Speaker 5 (06:01):
He was that fringe guy. When we were looking at it,
we knew he was in.
Speaker 4 (06:04):
The top seventy five for sure, but when you got
to get down to you know, the fifty three, and
they stashed him on the practice squad for a little bit.
But Tampa Bay went and got him off that practice squad,
so you know, he you know, would he crack the
top fifty three, No, but he was in that top
sixty one of guys when it was all said and done,
(06:25):
and then of course got you know, got post off
of that. So now the Steelers have to be a
little bit more wary about how they can protect him
in the future coming up. But you know, I mean
that's the nature of where we're at right now. You
never know when somebody's got to put their hand in
the pile until they have to put their hand in
the pile.
Speaker 2 (06:43):
Yep, agreed all the way around. And I do think
that the signing we're rered to hear from Mike Tollin.
By the way, his comments at the beginning of yesterday's
press conference coming up in just a little bit of
valuation of the last game and to look forward to
this Bengals game. In an overview and some of the
players that he singled out for praise was asked about.
I think you're very interesting, and we'll get into that.
(07:04):
But you know, when you think about the acquisition of
a Sante Samuel Junior, this guy was a good football
player before his you know, he had neck surgery and
I think that obviously couldn't sign until he got clear
to play. But he was considered a top twenty five
free agent in the offseason, and the trade deadline comes
(07:26):
and goes and you don't make a move, and then
you know, this is you know when the trade deadline
is this early. Now he got injuries, and now you're
looking around and you know you're only going to have
so many good players on your own roster, so much depth,
so much depth on your practice squad. And to be
able to get a player of this caliber now, again,
(07:47):
we have to see him come back from the injury
and see how he looks. But to be able to
mid season pick up a player of this caliber and
potentially get him in game action soon, this is you
know when I saw the when I saw the press release,
I was like, whoa. You know, I've forgotten that he
(08:07):
was out there. I'd forgotten that, you know, he was
working out for teams, and you know, I looked at
it and yeah, other teams are supposed to be working
them out and interested in Nope, sign them with the Steelers.
Speaker 3 (08:18):
I mean, this could could be. We'll see.
Speaker 2 (08:21):
I don't want to put the cart before the horse here,
but this could be a significant acquisition for the Steelers.
Speaker 3 (08:26):
We'll have to see.
Speaker 2 (08:27):
But you know, if he can be the kind of
player he was pre injury. He got hurt last year,
this could be a significant pickup for the Steelers.
Speaker 5 (08:36):
It can be.
Speaker 4 (08:37):
I mean, this is one of those where it's low risk,
high reward potential and you know, we'll see how things
shake out and you know, how how he progresses. But
I mean, this could be one where you're talking about
getting that type of caliber of player.
Speaker 5 (08:59):
For a practice squad location, you know, spots.
Speaker 4 (09:02):
Of which means he signed for a minimum deal, but
he signed more so for the opportunity because he had
to prove his.
Speaker 5 (09:08):
Health and listen, listen, I'm I'm I'm here.
Speaker 4 (09:13):
To tell you that, uh you can still play. You know,
people are like, oh my gosh, cervical spinal fusion.
Speaker 5 (09:19):
What is that? Oh my, he's he's a broken man. No,
he's not.
Speaker 4 (09:25):
And you know why, Rob, No, because I had cervical
spinal Ah, as a.
Speaker 5 (09:34):
Guy I have.
Speaker 4 (09:35):
I have my C four C five cervical spine fused.
And guess what played three years after that? So you know,
I look at this and and and and that's why,
that's why I don't worry about it. You know, I
haven't had complications from it, and you know I got cleared.
I mean it took me eleven months. Eleven months. So
(10:00):
I was injured back in two thousand and eleven.
Speaker 5 (10:05):
Week eight.
Speaker 4 (10:06):
I sustained the injury in Cincinnati on an extra point
and field goal, and of course that year we went
all the way to Super Bowl forty five. After that,
right six and two start, I go out and Jonathan
Scott comes in, and we make it all the way
to the super Bowl and we lose Aaron Rodgers.
Speaker 5 (10:28):
Right.
Speaker 4 (10:28):
Lockout happens right afterwards, and lockout ends.
Speaker 5 (10:34):
I get released and.
Speaker 4 (10:38):
Because obviously I'm still not healthy, I'm not cleared none
of that. And then from there I sat all through
training camp.
Speaker 5 (10:49):
And I went on workouts.
Speaker 4 (10:50):
I went and went to Kansas City, I went to Minnesota,
I went to Seattle on workouts, and then week five,
I'll never forget this. I was in Detroit. I was
in Detroit work in a workout on a Tuesday and.
Speaker 5 (11:09):
Got the call. Well, actually, I take it I didn't
get the call.
Speaker 4 (11:13):
The Detroit Lions got the call because Kevin Colbert, who
formally worked for the Lions, called him and said, hey,
we're signing Starks. Go ahead, you know, send it, send
it back to Pittsburgh. And I just remember, I'm mid workout.
I'm feeling like I'm having a good workout, you know.
I'm like, man, this is I said. I think I
think I could be a Detroit Lion, right And yeah,
(11:36):
I'll never forget I forgot who the GM was at
the because he said, hey, Max here, come here. He's like, hey,
need you go wash up, you know, get your things together.
You're going back to Pittsburgh. I said, what, I'm sorry,
what what did you say? He was like he was like, yeah,
Kevin Cobert called, they're going to sign you. I was like, what, Okay,
you guys aren't gonna sign me, so no, no, Kevin say,
(11:59):
Kevin say, he's gonna sign you.
Speaker 5 (12:00):
So I I gotta send you back. I was like,
And in my head, I'm like.
Speaker 4 (12:04):
You have me here, you know. In my head, I'm like,
Steelers want me back, you know.
Speaker 5 (12:08):
And I was just I was, I was.
Speaker 4 (12:10):
I was just confused at that point, right because you know,
that was the first time I had been released, you know,
and quote unquote fired from a job, and so I
was just I was just kind of stunned because I
was like, I was like, well, they knew I was cleared,
but they didn't want me. And so in my head,
I was like, Okay, all right. So I packed my
stuff up and get on the plane and fly back home.
Speaker 5 (12:31):
And the drivers like, all right, we want straight through.
I said, well, can I drop my stuff at my house? No, no,
you gotta go straight to the facility. So I go
straight through the facility, and.
Speaker 4 (12:40):
You know, I get I get to the Steelers facility,
go upstairs. Uh Ba, Bruce arians coach Tomlin and some
other coaches are.
Speaker 5 (12:51):
In the offensive staff room going over film. I walk in.
Speaker 4 (12:55):
Yeah, They're like, hey, Max, Ay, just want to see
how you looking, man, how you feeling? And and uh,
you know, they looked at me like all right, okay,
all right, you ready to go. I was like yeah, absolutely,
and so like all right, we'll see you in the morning.
That was it was, It was all the conversations I had, went,
signed my contract, got home, saw my wife. Uh, she
(13:17):
was so happy to see me and to have me
back because you know, I was in Arizona training because
I didn't have a job, and she was working, you know,
at UPMC, and so you know, it was good to.
Speaker 5 (13:27):
Be home with my wife.
Speaker 4 (13:29):
And then yeah, went in Wednesday morning and we're going
through the lineup Sean Cougar or old line coach.
Speaker 5 (13:34):
Everybody's hey, you know, and coach Toma gets.
Speaker 4 (13:36):
It to be hey, welcome back, you know, starkey, and
uh you know, for that guys, we're gonna welcome Max
back properly, back to back padded practice.
Speaker 5 (13:44):
And everybody groaned.
Speaker 3 (13:46):
Everybody was like, oh my god, you fault.
Speaker 4 (13:50):
Yeah, it's my fault that we got double padded practices
like week five into the season. And now I get
in the meeting room and Kus is going through the
lineup for the week. He's like, all right, you know, hey,
you know, Willie, you know you're starting to right tackle.
You know, Ramone, You're you're at right guard. Pounce you're
at center, Juice aka Chris Kimayatu you're at left guard.
(14:14):
Oh yeah, and welcome back, Max. You're you're at left tack.
I said, I'm sorry, but I had played football at
that point, rob in eleven months eleven butts I hadn't
played football. And I will say this, People say, Oh,
it's like riding a bike. Is not like riding a bike,
because it's like riding a bike with somebody with with
(14:34):
that boxing glove just punching you the entire time as
you're trying to ride the bike. That's what it is.
Speaker 5 (14:40):
But I got out there.
Speaker 4 (14:41):
I got out there and you know, went through the
double padded practices.
Speaker 5 (14:45):
A little sore, but you know, I was ready.
Speaker 4 (14:47):
And then Sunday we played the Jaguars and man, I
played all but four snaps that game.
Speaker 5 (14:54):
Start to finish, they're like, Oh.
Speaker 4 (14:56):
We're gonna try to ease you and we're gonna take
you out of one series just because you We want
to make sure you're okay. We don't overstretch you. Man,
I'm playing that whole game. And we get through the
first half. I thought the series was gonna be the
first half. They're like, oh yeah, this is the way
the game went. You know, we couldn't quite get you
out there, Max, we needed you.
Speaker 5 (15:13):
And then I'll never forget this.
Speaker 4 (15:14):
He's all right, next series, you're out, and I'm like, okay,
all right, and so we go out.
Speaker 5 (15:23):
Run the series.
Speaker 4 (15:25):
It's like a five and out or something, and we're
punting and I'll never forget this. I'm coming off the sidelines,
you know, watching the punt. It's a fake punt. Monday.
Ryan Munday was a personal protector. They had a fake
direct snap to him and he got it all the
way downfield, I mean down inside, like the fifteen yard line,
and I'm.
Speaker 5 (15:44):
Going around at Koog's grassy.
Speaker 4 (15:46):
No no, no, no, no, no no no, this is your
series out. I'm like, what are you kidding me? Like
this is my series that we're at the fifteen yard
line and I'm like, so that's my series. So we scored,
and so we scored, Like, actually, I take that back.
It was all I said four plays. It was it
was like two plays. So that was my series.
Speaker 5 (16:05):
I missed too. I missed two plays that whole game.
Speaker 4 (16:07):
Like the one series I got take it out was
a scoring drive. I was like, come on, I was like,
you could, we could get a backed up series. If
you're gonna take me out, at least make it one
this hard.
Speaker 5 (16:16):
But we did.
Speaker 4 (16:17):
But but that was just so fun And then ended up,
you know, getting getting one of my only one, one
of a few game balls back then. I got a
game ball for for coming back and playing against Jacksonville.
So I cherished that game ball because those those were
hard to come by back in the day. Oh yeah,
so I still have I still have that game ball that.
Speaker 5 (16:37):
Yeah. It was it was just it was it was
a it was a fun story. Yeah.
Speaker 3 (16:41):
So it's Sante Samuel Jr.
Speaker 2 (16:42):
He's a about seven months removed from surgery at surgery
in April, and you know, I'm sure all the teams
have done their due diligence right, and he was a
popular guy. People wanted to sign him. He just turned
twenty six, had the injury last year, had been a
full time starter pretty much since his rookie year, second
(17:04):
round draft choice, and still young. You know, you think
about I'm sure fans are already thinking, well, let's see,
he's twenty six, man. If he plays well for us,
we could sign him to a multi year deal. So
let's get him off to practice squad first. Let's get
him in, Let's get him on the practice squad. Let's
get him at practice, Let's get him elevated perhaps at
some point, and let's see what we have, because it
(17:26):
is exciting and the notion of being able to pick
up somebody of this quality. Usually at this stage of
the season, you're finding somebody who's unemployed, and it's possible
you could get lightning in a bottle, but it's more
probable that you're finding somebody who is either being forced
(17:46):
to contribute because of injury or is just you know,
a break glass in case of emergency type of player.
And this pickup feels like it could potentially be more
than your average in season pickup.
Speaker 4 (18:02):
That it has the potential to be more than that,
I completely agree, And I think this is where you know,
if you're the Steelers, you know there's there's worse things
to gamble on, right that you could possibly gamble on.
This is one that feels a lot better because it's
(18:22):
more of a calculated risk that you're taking, and also
it's not so much no harm no file in this
moment because you know with with with the Sante Samuel Junior,
you know he's on practice squads. So it so, like
I said, it did not cost you a tremendous amount
(18:43):
to to get his services. You didn't have to give
up a draft pick. You didn't you didn't have to
trade a player or anything.
Speaker 5 (18:52):
You know, you you know.
Speaker 4 (18:54):
In earnest, he went to what four or five other
places and and he decided that the Steelers was the place.
I mean, he was one of those guys he had
he had his pick of the litter. I mean, he
went to what I think four other workouts, like starting
last Wednesday. He was on visits Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Monday,
and then you know size of sign with the team yesterday.
(19:18):
So you know, there's four other stops before that that
he could have signed with and for him to make
it this far and then you know, make that decision
to sign with the Steelers pretty pretty pretty big, pretty
big moment that where it could be something that could
you know, pay pay some tremendous dividends if it works
out for sure.
Speaker 3 (19:36):
So I wanted to let you know what's coming up.
Speaker 2 (19:38):
We're gonna hear from head coach Mike Tomlin in just
a little bit his comments from yesterday. We not only
have his comments about the last game and look forward
to this game, but we also have some injury updates.
There's some news regarding the team in addition to the
elevation of Will Howard and the signing of a Sante
Samuel that could have an impact in this Sunday's game.
(20:01):
So we have plenty to get to and a little
bit later on, Jim Wexel is going to be joining us.
Speaker 3 (20:06):
Want to remind you first gear up with the.
Speaker 2 (20:07):
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(20:29):
shop dot Steelers dot com. Back with more inside the
Locker Room presented by your neighborhood Ford Store and the
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Speaker 1 (20:48):
This is in the locker Room with King and Starks
on Steelers Nation Radio, presented by your neighborhood Ford Store.
The F one P fifty is the official truck of
the Pittsburgh Steam and by Steelers Pro Shop. Get it
direct from the team at the Steelers Pro Shop at
shop dot Steelers dot com.
Speaker 3 (21:09):
And thanks very much for being with us in the
locker room. So lots to get you. Jim Westle is
going to join us.
Speaker 2 (21:14):
Some interesting personnel discussions and comments from Mike Tomlin that
we're going to get to in a moment with Max.
Speaker 3 (21:23):
Starts here in the locker room.
Speaker 2 (21:24):
But first, before we get much further, let's hear from
Mike Tomlin yesterday at his weekly press conference.
Speaker 6 (21:30):
My perspective hadn't changed a whole lot on the significant
components of the game and why it unfolded the way
it unfolded. We certainly were not good enough in possession,
down play on offense, and that affected us in a
lot of ways. First and foremost, to scoreboard, you got
to possess the ball and an effort to score, and
(21:51):
certainly if you're not doing a good enough job on
possession downs, you need to have some big play splash,
and we didn't really have either.
Speaker 5 (21:58):
Sometimes you can.
Speaker 6 (22:00):
Hit a fifty yard ball or what have you and
flip the field and change the trajectory of that. And
so a combination of possession down failures coupled with a
lack of big time field flipping plays produced the outcome
that it did. At the same time, it alters your
time of possession. I thought we had the bones of
(22:20):
a really good run game by playing performance, but I
think Jalen only had fourteen carries. That happens when you
don't win enough possession downs and maintain possession of the
ball flips out. On the other side, the defense ends
up on the field the time of possession a lot.
I thought we had the bones of a good run
stopping defense for the game, but as the game we're on,
(22:42):
I thought we wore down defensively because of the imbalance
in terms of the time of possession. And so it
just speaks to the significance of playing good ball on
third down. Offensively, we certainly know that, but we certainly
suffered the consequences of not doing so. On Sunday night
in La for us, it really wasn't anything earth shattering,
(23:06):
to be quite honest with you, or things that we
haven't seen. They didn't pressure us a lot. Most people
don't pressure Aaron a lot. They did things schematically to
make us distribute the ball elsewhere other than DK. Well,
we see that week in and week out. I just think,
you know, from a planning perspective and a playing perspective,
all of us involved, coaches and players, we didn't do
(23:28):
a good enough job positioning the others to be impactful,
and the others didn't make enough plays. And that's just
the reality of it. So with that understanding, man, we
go back to work.
Speaker 2 (23:41):
Max, I couldn't agree more with everything. Mike Tomlin just
said right there. I mean, you got to possess the football,
you got to get first downs, and you got to
make plays, and the Steelers just didn't do any of
those things. He mentioned later on in the press conference
that you know, they talk about the turn over culture
for the Steelers, and that's not just about getting the
(24:04):
turnover but preventing turnovers. And when you don't make plays
on third down and you don't continue to move the
clock and you don't create turnovers and you have three turnovers.
Speaker 3 (24:16):
Of your own.
Speaker 2 (24:19):
I mean, you know, imagine like one of those you know,
you're you're let's say your job applicant write you have
pros and cons, and you're writing the pro Well, the
pros are the new job, a shorter commute, you know,
more money whatever. In the condra, they were like, if
you're looking, here's how to win a game. Okay, pros
and cons. There weren't many things in the pros column.
There were a lot of things in the con column.
(24:40):
And that's just the way the game went for the Steelers.
Speaker 4 (24:45):
Absolutely, and I think you know, Mike Tomlin, of course,
you know, summarized it very well. He had a chance
to watch that game in its entirety back as opposed
to and also living through it live and decisions that
were that were made in that game, and you know,
you could you could hear the frustration in his voice,
(25:09):
and it's something that was not anticipated. I mean, there
was there was no new issues that were presented. There
was nothing unique that the Chargers did that the Steelers
had already faced or experienced this season. And so I
think that's where the frustration lies is that you know,
we have a plan, we had the good bare bones
(25:31):
of it, right. He talked about that, and you and
I both agreed. We're like another Jalen Warren game where
you know, the average yards per touch looked good. I mean,
he had a couple of explosives in there too, Kinger,
but it just wasn't enough touches because they didn't possess
the ball. I mean, they went zero for nine before
(25:52):
they got their first third down conversion in the game,
and you can't you can't win football without that unless
you're playing Canadian football. Was like, we don't even need
third down because we get it in second down. It
wasn't it wasn't anything like that. I mean, because there
was what one first down, you know, deep into that
game for the Steelers, and the defense was doing their
job because at one point nobody had a conversion right
(26:15):
going into the end of the first half, and so
the defense doing everything, but eventually they tired out. When
you when you will you possess a football for over
thirty seven minutes as an offense, I know that defense
is tired, and it's big bodies leaning on other big humans.
You're having to push yourself up and that that that's
that Listen if I if I'm the Chargers offensive line,
(26:37):
I'm ecstatic.
Speaker 5 (26:40):
Like, do you see what we did to do?
Speaker 4 (26:42):
Do you see what we did to that squad and
all the names over there and all of the Pro Bowls,
all of the All Pros that resigned on the deep. Yeah,
it's a badge of honor when you can do those things.
But you also have to put an asterisk next to
it because it was because the offense didn't do it
any day. It wasn't because the Chargers offense. The line
was just so dominant, right, It wasn't. It wasn't like
(27:04):
the Seattle game earlier this season, right week two. It
wasn't that where you're scoring it's a back and forth
affair and you know, you're just rolling up and down
the field. It wasn't that. It was far from that.
The defense had a lot of good places. They had
five more sacks in this game. You know, that's what
(27:25):
the third time this season they've had they've had a
five sacker better game. I mean, they they did their
they did their job, they stopped them. But eventually it
comes to that point injuries mount up. Right, Darius Slave
went out of this game. Joey Porter Junior exited this
game at one point. You know, you had attrition. Isaac
(27:45):
Ciamalo doesn't play and you're having rotation at the at
the at the left guard position. That kind of threw
things off. So it wasn't like it just went swimmingly
and this was just a dominant performance. It was just
it was lack of execution versus dominance in that moment.
And so I think that's where you know, you could
(28:06):
be frustrated, but you also have to be encouraged, like
we we did this to ourselves. There's nothing that they
did right. It was completely on us. We did not execute,
We did not take advantage of the opportunities, and that
is why we lost. It wasn't because this team was
so much better than us and they just dominated us.
I mean, we could point to games last season where
(28:28):
we just absolutely got dominated, right, and it was just
better there There are eleven were better than our eleven
at any given time. That's not the case, not the
case in this game. It was just it was you know, hey,
we did this to ourselves, and we and only we
can can answer this, and only we can solve this.
Speaker 2 (28:48):
You know, when you think about people say great sound
by the meters by the way people say old school
next before your time.
Speaker 5 (28:59):
Yeah, exactly, don't worry.
Speaker 4 (29:00):
I'll get some late nineteen hundred references in.
Speaker 3 (29:02):
So when.
Speaker 2 (29:05):
You look at it, boy Jalen Warree had fourteen carries, man,
be nice if you had eighteen. So there's four. DK
Metcalf had three receptions. Be nice if he had five
or six. Okay, let's let's get you up to seven. Now,
friar Mouth three catches, maybe one more for Pat. You know,
maybe one or two more catches are carried. Carries, you know,
(29:28):
kind of sprinkled around the rest of the team. Well,
if you get first downs, that's what happens. That's what
would have happened all those guys. Dk Metcalf would have
had another reception or two. Pat Fryarmuth might have had
another reception or two. You know, maybe somebody else, maybe
game Well gets another catch, or maybe game We'll gets
a carry or two. Didn't get any carries in this game.
Maybe Jaalen's up to seventeen carries instead of fourteen carries.
(29:51):
BO when you only run fifty plays and a good
chunk of those are late in the game, when you
pretty much have to throw the football. Jalen Warren's not
gonna get the carries you want. Mike Tomlin was also asked, hey,
you know, should Jalen Warren be getting more? And he said, yeah,
first of all, at the time of possession is one thing,
and there's like, well how about third down or not
(30:13):
time of possession? Just amount of plays and they sometimes
go hand in hand obviously, but he said, look, he
can't play every single down. He can't play every down.
You got to get somebody else in there. And they
got Caleb Johnson in there, and they get game well
in there, they're trying to get the ball more to
Jalen Warren.
Speaker 3 (30:31):
I love it.
Speaker 2 (30:32):
I want to see more of Jalen Warren too. I'm
a big fan of Jalen Warren. I think he's I
think he's a terrific player. He got what thirty you
got a third of all their touches, something along those lines.
You know, if you had more touches, if you had
more actual team touches, then he'd have more touches, you know,
if you had ten more, If you had ten more,
(30:54):
you know, by that math, if you had ten more plays,
you'd have three more. If you had twelve more plays,
you'd have four more touches. So you got to be
able to move the ball. And they just and effectively
and keep drives alive. And you know, Mike Tomlin was listen, listen.
I've been around long enough a long time. These kind
of games happen, and I'm not looking for trends. You know,
(31:17):
with Cincinnati, you don't look back at the last game.
Every game presents its own child. I mean you do, obviously,
but you don't anticipate that's the way the next game
is going to go. There's too many different variables in
NFL games. But I do start to think, if there's
one issue that is that now I look at this
and yes, they've had some short fields, and he pointed
(31:38):
that out.
Speaker 3 (31:38):
You get turnovers, you get short fields.
Speaker 2 (31:40):
That means you don't win the time of possession, you're
not running as many plays to score points that haven't
been said. I think, if I'm looking for a trend
that I want to see reversed, and we mentioned this yesterday,
if there's one trend I want to see reversed on
this offense, it's get more first downs, extend drive, get
(32:01):
more plays, get everybody involved more offensively that will eventually,
you know, that's the by product of having more plays,
and scoring more points is the by product to having
more plays. Resting your defense is a byproduct of having
more plays. Maybe getting a lead could be the byproduct
and more plays, which could then allow you to unleash
(32:23):
your defense, make them one dimensional. We talked about it yesterday.
You got five sacks on Justin Herbert, and he was
trying to get rid of the ball quickly. He was
never in a position where he had to make a play.
And I think when a team has to make a
play and you've got to rested defense, that's a talented
as his Steelers. Turnovers are going to be a byproduct
of that too. To me, a lot of what's going
(32:43):
on here in these four losses and what needs to
improve for this team to reach where I think they
can reach comes down to simply converting more first downs.
Speaker 5 (32:57):
And I agree with you.
Speaker 4 (32:59):
I think you know this team has to even more
so the first just possession possessed the ball longer, and
I think that is that's kind of the overarching theme,
is possessing the ball right conversions because it comes down
to consistency of play execution, and that's something that the
(33:21):
Steelers have been struggling with, you know, consistent execution of plays,
and that's what they have. They have to get in sync,
get on the same line. By the way, great boy
band of the late nineteen hundreds, that InSync group, just
comber Lake.
Speaker 3 (33:40):
There you go.
Speaker 5 (33:40):
See. Look, I told you I was gonna get in
there somehow trying. Yeah, I am.
Speaker 4 (33:45):
You know, once again, you know, it's only far if
you make it far to be fetched. But but no,
they just it's like you see the rhythm early and
then it's but it's one thing that is off, you know.
And for last week it was a little bit of
the touch by Aaron right, some of those balls that
(34:06):
he wanted to throw a little high, a little overthrown,
you know. And then there was incidentals where guys have
to also catch the ball when it's thrown to him, right,
That's that's the other thing. And you talk about some
of those catches, you know, you know if DK, if
DK makes that one catch, right, so say he just
(34:28):
takes an angle that's a little bit deeper, not as
shallow early in the game, right when he's when he's
down there in the red zone, he beats Molden on
the deep over route and Aaron rolls out left and
throws back across his.
Speaker 5 (34:42):
Body to the right.
Speaker 4 (34:44):
And you know that's something if he makes that play
that we're talking about a brand new ball game here, right.
That play puts you potentially as scoring a touchdown instead
of the fifty nine yard field goal to put points
on the board. That's that's a that's a different type
of situation and maybe because of that, you don't get
(35:06):
a backed up situation to where you eventually take take
the safety and now it's a three two ball game.
Now you're talking about this is a seven. And now
you probably have a little bit more confidence as a unit,
so maybe you are being more competitive, maybe the drives
are starting to click there, and that would have been
your first third down conversion on that DK pass, so
(35:26):
then you weren't searching for the next three quarters for
a third down conversion. Like there's a lot of Shuitar
Kulda Wouldah's in there. But that comes down to the
lack of execution. And you know however that was that
was slated that they felt that, you know, the Andres
Pete substitution for Spencer Anderson, so that he could do
(35:49):
his tight end role. He could have a dual role
of playing tight end and guard. A guy who hadn't
played all season, had taken a snap all season, and
you're expecting him to come in first play and do that.
That's a tall ask, but you know, obviously he's a professional,
so you deal with it. He's a veteran, he should
know how to how to do those things. I've been
(36:09):
in that situation before. But he doesn't execute it, and
then boom, you're very first play of the game. You're
backed up as first of fifteen. You know, those are
just all those little things, and then you know you
have to wait an extra play to get to get
Smithseraerson and now he's taking his first real snap at
guard on third down and long versus getting into the
(36:30):
game with a run play potentially on first down and
maybe a run past screen and second down, and you're
kind of getting into the rhythm of the game, getting
to figure you know, of you know on the on
the guys you're going up against on the interior doesn't happen.
But it all comes down to execution. Your professionals figure
it out, make away extra study, whatever you need to
(36:51):
do to get yourself ready. You have to so that
you can eliminate the excuses. You can eliminate the woe
is me that moment, and the more you do, the
less you think, and the more you react, you understand that.
Speaker 2 (37:09):
I totally just how it is. Yeah, totally do yep.
I think that. I think we're both in the same page.
I think that's what you're looking to clean up. And
you're looking to clean that up against the team that
is it's got its foot to the floor and it
is looking to score a ton of points, and it
has scored a ton of points since they made the
(37:29):
switch a quarterback.
Speaker 3 (37:30):
So we will obviously get to that.
Speaker 2 (37:32):
Mike Tomlin had some injury updates, and I'm going to
talk a little bit about a player who's been affected
by those injuries in a very positive way, and we
talk about changes, you know, within the roster, whether this
particular player is moving on up to depth chart. We're
going to get to that when we continue. In the
Locker Room, presented by our neighborhood for Word Store and
(37:52):
the Steer's Pro Shop on Steelers Nation Radio, a part
of the Steelers Audio Network.
Speaker 1 (38:00):
This is in the Locker Room with kingon Starks on
Steelers Nation Radio, presented by your neighborhood Forward Store.
Speaker 5 (38:09):
The F one fifty is the official.
Speaker 1 (38:11):
Truck of the Pittsburgh Steelers and by Steelers Pro Shop.
Get it direct from the team at the Steelers Pro
Shop at shop dot Steelers dot com.
Speaker 2 (38:22):
And thanks very much for being with us as we
kind of take the turn from moping through a tough
loss Sunday night in La just a not a good
performance by the Steelers to understanding that another big game.
Weights that was too bad. That was a big game.
You know, you talk about playoff odds and all that
other stuff, and they really take a dip when you
(38:45):
lose a game like that, you know, when you know,
and that's look, every season is different.
Speaker 3 (38:51):
I understand that every path is different. I understand that too,
but you know.
Speaker 2 (38:57):
Just just this, you know, the plane straight the odds
of making the playoffs if you're you know, six and
three versus five and four, six and three teams seventy
three point three percent chance of making the playoffs since
nineteen ninety five and four teams forty seven point one percent.
So all of a sudden, you know, a loss like
(39:18):
that touch where we talk about how important a game
like that is. Now, every season's different, every season presents
different challenges. You're still in first place in the AFC
North and that's the front and center order of business
for the Steelers, and they face another big game against
the Bengals team that's still in it, that's getting a
little pep in its step with Joe Burrow returning back
(39:40):
from practice. So Max, another big game coming up on
Sunday for the Steelers.
Speaker 4 (39:47):
Another big one. And here's the thing, They're all going
to be big this time. Moving forward. You know, we
still have four division games left in these final seven.
So the concentration in the AFC North battle is.
Speaker 5 (40:03):
Is well, well, healthy and alive for three teams in
this division.
Speaker 4 (40:09):
And you don't you don't want to create the opportunities
for others by your misfortune or your lack of execution.
Speaker 5 (40:17):
So you've got to do.
Speaker 4 (40:19):
Whatever you can out of these next four out of
seven games to try and create that separation. Because right
now you sit at one and one in the division.
You have one went over Cleveland, you have a loss
to Cincinnati, and now you're seeing Cincinnati again. There's there's
nothing easy about a division game.
Speaker 5 (40:37):
And you know, to beat a.
Speaker 4 (40:38):
Team once is already hard enough. To beat them twice
is a herculean effort because they've seen your best shot.
But at the same time, you can't take it for
granted that just because you think you're better or your
roster looks better, you can't take it easy at all.
Everything has to be now pedaled to the me and
(41:01):
all gas, no breaks in the rest.
Speaker 5 (41:03):
Of these games.
Speaker 4 (41:03):
And then in between those games, you're gonna have a
Monday nighter still as it slated Monday Night.
Speaker 5 (41:10):
I always caught you that because we can't.
Speaker 4 (41:12):
We can't be flexed against the Dolphins. You have you
have a game where you're going to Detroit, who is
a very very tough team out of conference that you're
going to play, and then you're gonna have you and
then then you got the Buffalo Bills that we don't
know which Buffalo Bills we're getting, right, Are we getting
the Atlanta Falcons version where they where they lose, or heck,
the Miami Dolphins version where they get blown out, or
(41:35):
are you getting the one that went toe to toe
with the Kansas City Chiefs and also beat the Ravens.
Speaker 5 (41:40):
I don't know.
Speaker 4 (41:41):
It's like like the scale is so wide on what
Buffalo Bills team you're getting. But that's what your last
seven games look like. That's not an easy slate and
you have to be ready. You're talking about, you know,
six out of your seven potentially, well five out of seven, sorry,
five out of seven because Miami's definitely not in the
playoff race anymore. Five out of your last seven games
(42:05):
are all against potential playoff contenders. That that that that
that that's a tough slate to end the season. But
can't cry over spilled milk. Right, the schedule came out
back in May. You knew these were coming. It wasn't
like you're being surprised that. It's not like you're going
into like college and it's the college playoff. Oh, I
(42:27):
don't know where we're going week one if we make it. No,
you wait till December, you know, championship games, and then
the slotting comes out, and then boat the next week,
you're you're wherever you got to be. That's you know,
that's a tougher state. You knew where these regular season
games were going to be, and you knew who you
were going to have to go against. You knew the personnel.
Regardless of how regarded or whatever the record was. You
(42:48):
knew who that personnel was going to be, so you
have to be ready. This this is why you put
on the big boy pants. This is why you're in
the NFL. You're not in the UFL. You're not in
the XFL, You're not in this, You're not in the AFL,
you're not in any other fls.
Speaker 5 (43:04):
You're in the NFL National Football League.
Speaker 4 (43:07):
You are at the summit of the mountain and you've
got to climb to the very tippy top of it.
Speaker 5 (43:14):
And this is what it takes.
Speaker 4 (43:15):
You're going as the top one percent athletes in the
world and you've got to duke it out and see who's.
Speaker 5 (43:21):
Better in this.
Speaker 4 (43:22):
So if you want to prove your worth, if you
want to get to that immortality, this is what the
challenge looks like.
Speaker 2 (43:27):
It's never going to be easy for sure. And you
know what, Before we go to a break and we
have Jim M. Westall coming up, let's get the injury
update from Mike Tommin from yesterday's news conference.
Speaker 6 (43:42):
Injury update, Cole Holkam is still working his way back
to us Man. He'll be a limited participant to start
the week. And we'll see where that participation goes in
terms of the amount and the quality of it. Slayher
is in the concussion protocol and so we'll let the
protocol determine his availability. Pep Peppers was running in a
(44:05):
limited capacity a lot a part of last week. I'd
imagine that'll make him a limited participant tomorrow and we'll
kind of go from there. Isaac c Omalu is expected
to participate in some capacity and then kind of build
and go on from there, but we're optimistic about his return.
Scottie Miller has been cleared to practice with his broken finger,
(44:27):
and we have some other bumps and bruises associated with
play that may limit some people. And there may be
some veteran players, et cetera that we manage at the
early portions of the week this time of year, but
none of those we expect to be significant in terms
of player availability.
Speaker 2 (44:46):
So I think for me, look, there's a lot of
a lot of guys there, you know, Cole Holcom, Darius
slay obviously, but Isaac Ciamalo coming back in that left
guard position. Although later on in the news conference, Mike
Tomlins said both Andrews Pete and uh Spencer Anderson were
above the line at the left guard position, so that
(45:07):
is that's nice to know. That's good to know that
they felt that way about that.
Speaker 3 (45:10):
You still have the.
Speaker 2 (45:11):
Veteran Calvin Anderson as the backup tackle because look, you
still have to have depth that offensive line position, and
that is hard to come by quality depth. But Isaac
cmlo being back in there now unleashes you to be
able to use Spencer Anderson once again. As that you know,
first of all, you get cm oliback. He's an excellent
player obviously in his own right, but it allows you
to use Spencer Anderson in the jumbo package. Probably the
(45:33):
first more important than the second, even though as Mike
Tomlins said, Pete and Anderson were both above the line.
But as I look at those injuries, and I do
want to comment in the Darius slay one next hour,
but getting Cmli back would be a very very good
thing for this Steelers offense.
Speaker 4 (45:49):
It would it would create the balance, it would create
the symmetry, it would fill a hole and allow smister
Anderson to kind of work in the position that he's
been working in so far this season, which has been
in that jumbo extra tight end, fifth tight end, however
you want to look at it, it would it would
give you back the extra dimension in the run game
(46:11):
that you're looking for and that consistency. But it also
depends on the quality of of health that Isaac Ciamalo possesses.
You know, can he go in hole a whole game
with that peck. That's going to be the question that's
going to be asked, and that's what he's going to
have to make that determination health wise. Are you trying
to rush him back for one game? Are you trying
(46:31):
to rush him back because you need that leadership and
you need him the rest of the way moving forward.
And I would say the latter versus the earlier. I
don't want to guy back for one game. That's why
I always tell guys, I don't wish them a speedy recovery.
Speaker 5 (46:43):
I wish them a.
Speaker 4 (46:43):
Full recovery right right, because that's what's needed. You know,
a speedy recovery leads to more injuries, but a full
recovery means you put it in the rearview mirror and
you just go straight charging ahead.
Speaker 5 (46:56):
That's what that That's what I that's that's what.
Speaker 4 (46:59):
I'm hoping for, is that he gets a full recovery,
because we're gonna need him all seven of these next
regular season games, not just the next one, because our
our you know, our feet are on the fire. I
need long sustained success so that I can plan accordingly
with how we distribute the football, how we set up plays,
and what that structure in schematic looks like.
Speaker 2 (47:21):
So uh again, I do think a player has emerged.
Mike Thomas as a player has emerged. We're going to
talk to him about him coming up in the next hour.
We want to remind you that Jim Wexel is coming
up shortly when we continue in the Locker Room, presented
by our neighborhood Forard Store and the Steer's Pro Shop
on Steer This Nation Radio, a part of the Steelers
(47:42):
Audio Network
This is in the locker Room with King and Starks
on Steelers Nation Radio, presented by your neighborhood Forward Store.
The F one fifty is the official truck of the
Pittsburgh Steelers and by Steelers Pro Shop. Get it direct
from the team at the Steelers Pro Shop at shop
dot Steelers dot com.
Speaker 2 (00:30):
And we thank you very much for being with us
on this hump day, this Wedness Day, alongside Max Starks
and with Justin Miller's Patrols.
Speaker 3 (00:38):
I'm Rob King Max. Before we launched it too much,
how are you doing today?
Speaker 4 (00:41):
Everything going okay, Everything's going well, Everything's fine.
Speaker 5 (00:46):
He's fine, Rob, It's awesome, It's great. Now it's just jokeing.
Speaker 4 (00:50):
Uh okay, you know, just being a little dramatic, trying
to hype myself up a little bit. Uh, But no,
everything is good. You know, as I kind of think about,
you know, the last of you know, the weekend fallout,
and you know the fact that I will now make
it my personal charge to update you guys on nineties
(01:13):
R and B and potentially hip hop and rap. That
is now my new life goal for you and Bob Labriola.
Speaker 5 (01:21):
I was pondering on that yesterday.
Speaker 4 (01:22):
I was like, Wow, they don't even know who Brandy
Amonica is.
Speaker 5 (01:25):
I have to do a.
Speaker 4 (01:26):
Better jobs as a as a friend to expect Well,
I need to bring you guys at twenty first century.
But let's let's work on the late Let's work on
the late nineteen hundreds.
Speaker 5 (01:36):
First.
Speaker 3 (01:37):
One step at a time, man.
Speaker 5 (01:38):
Yeah, well exactly one step at a time.
Speaker 4 (01:40):
I mean when you told me that the youngest person
you saw was sixty three, I was sitting there. I
was like, I just went to a Tate mccrai concert
because I had to take my daughter, like a week ago.
Speaker 2 (01:48):
Well I went to like a bare naked ladies contract
back in the day because our daughter.
Speaker 3 (01:53):
So but anyway, last night I see yeah.
Speaker 5 (01:55):
But they're now in their fifties, so that does it.
Speaker 2 (01:58):
Yeah, so last night last night I saw Paul McCartney
and oh yeah at at at PPG Paints Arena in Pittsburgh,
and he was fabulous. I mean, it is you know,
if there's a if there's a soundtrack to your life
and you're my age, the Beatles are you know, if
(02:20):
they're not, if they're not number one on your list
of songs there, they're somewhere up there. It's hard not
to have been influenced by them in many ways. Their music,
their solo careers. You know, they're they're just you know,
I mean, obviously they stand in their own right, but
you know, so it was great. My my sister, my
wife's sister came up for the concert. So it was
(02:42):
kind of a family affair. Our son went. We we
went with our daughter and uh we took uh Cooper
in Knoxville in twenty twenty two, so Schaeffer, our son
had not yet seen Paul McCartney, so he got a
chance to see him last night. A family affair. You know,
it was a it was a great concert. But yes,
somebody under eighty four, somebody under sixty three, that might
(03:05):
be nice for me to start to, you know, reinvent
my musical taste here as others not gonna.
Speaker 3 (03:11):
Have nobody ever, hope nobody left me to go see.
Speaker 2 (03:15):
Oh yeah, so it goes so so obviously jumping into
the Steelers. So, by the way, the Steelers made some
announcements today on rosters. The Steelers announced that they have
activated Will Howard from the reserve injured list and signed
(03:35):
a Sante Samuel to the practice squad. And with that
and needing some room, they waived Trey Sermon from the
fifty three man roster released defensive back Derek Forrest from
the practice squad. So those the official moves. Howard is back.
(03:55):
Interesting decision there, Max, I don't know what you think about.
You know, will he be able to get at least
some practice time. I mean, at least they'll be able
to get some kind of look at Will Howard, whether
it's running the scout team or something in practice. I
would assume, so valuable evaluation time. And what might have
been a loss season and which is still kind of
(04:16):
a bummer because he didn't have the chance to play
during the preseason, but still you make the most of
it of it and you move on.
Speaker 4 (04:23):
Yeah, that's the best you can do, is just make
the most out of it and see what you can
get out of Will if he can be your emergency
third on game days as well, if you can get
him up to speed and that respect. But yeah, you
want to see what your rookie has because you need
to plan. You know, you hate to say it, but
you're always planning for the future, absolutely in the present,
(04:45):
and so you don't want to get into a situation
where you're worried about, Okay, well, who are we going
to have competing at the quarterback position next year? And
you just want to kind of head those things off
of the past as much as possible. I mean, I
think in the same same vein is you know, how
much time does a Sante Samuel Junior need to get
(05:06):
up to speed right, you know and practice squad? So
it's taking him through the paces as much as possible
because there's potentially a need for him to be in
a ready position, whatever that looks.
Speaker 5 (05:19):
Like for the squad.
Speaker 4 (05:21):
So you know, anxious to kind of see what this
kind of looks like. And of course you know you're
already making a future's bet on Sebastian Castro. Hence while
you got while you claimed him off of waivers because
you know there there was a future talent. It wasn't
a present talent because of how stock the room was.
But that was training camp. This is the season right
(05:41):
right in two different scenarios that you're looking at, and
there's a potential, you know, with how the safety and
secondary positions have gone, there might be a clear and
present need sooner rather than later for him to get
up to speed. He did a lot of great things
at camp had you know, I felt had a really
good camp and he was one of those guys.
Speaker 5 (06:01):
He was that fringe guy. When we were looking at it,
we knew he was in.
Speaker 4 (06:04):
The top seventy five for sure, but when you got
to get down to you know, the fifty three, and
they stashed him on the practice squad for a little bit.
But Tampa Bay went and got him off that practice squad,
so you know, he you know, would he crack the
top fifty three, No, but he was in that top
sixty one of guys when it was all said and done,
(06:25):
and then of course got you know, got post off
of that. So now the Steelers have to be a
little bit more wary about how they can protect him
in the future coming up. But you know, I mean
that's the nature of where we're at right now. You
never know when somebody's got to put their hand in
the pile until they have to put their hand in
the pile.
Speaker 2 (06:43):
Yep, agreed all the way around. And I do think
that the signing we're rered to hear from Mike Tollin.
By the way, his comments at the beginning of yesterday's
press conference coming up in just a little bit of
valuation of the last game and to look forward to
this Bengals game. In an overview and some of the
players that he singled out for praise was asked about.
I think you're very interesting, and we'll get into that.
(07:04):
But you know, when you think about the acquisition of
a Sante Samuel Junior, this guy was a good football
player before his you know, he had neck surgery and
I think that obviously couldn't sign until he got clear
to play. But he was considered a top twenty five
free agent in the offseason, and the trade deadline comes
(07:26):
and goes and you don't make a move, and then
you know, this is you know when the trade deadline
is this early. Now he got injuries, and now you're
looking around and you know you're only going to have
so many good players on your own roster, so much depth,
so much depth on your practice squad. And to be
able to get a player of this caliber now, again,
(07:47):
we have to see him come back from the injury
and see how he looks. But to be able to
mid season pick up a player of this caliber and
potentially get him in game action soon, this is you
know when I saw the when I saw the press release,
I was like, whoa. You know, I've forgotten that he
(08:07):
was out there. I'd forgotten that, you know, he was
working out for teams, and you know, I looked at
it and yeah, other teams are supposed to be working
them out and interested in Nope, sign them with the Steelers.
Speaker 3 (08:18):
I mean, this could could be. We'll see.
Speaker 2 (08:21):
I don't want to put the cart before the horse here,
but this could be a significant acquisition for the Steelers.
Speaker 3 (08:26):
We'll have to see.
Speaker 2 (08:27):
But you know, if he can be the kind of
player he was pre injury. He got hurt last year,
this could be a significant pickup for the Steelers.
Speaker 5 (08:36):
It can be.
Speaker 4 (08:37):
I mean, this is one of those where it's low risk,
high reward potential and you know, we'll see how things
shake out and you know, how how he progresses. But
I mean, this could be one where you're talking about
getting that type of caliber of player.
Speaker 5 (08:59):
For a practice squad location, you know, spots.
Speaker 4 (09:02):
Of which means he signed for a minimum deal, but
he signed more so for the opportunity because he had
to prove his.
Speaker 5 (09:08):
Health and listen, listen, I'm I'm I'm here.
Speaker 4 (09:13):
To tell you that, uh you can still play. You know,
people are like, oh my gosh, cervical spinal fusion.
Speaker 5 (09:19):
What is that? Oh my, he's he's a broken man. No,
he's not.
Speaker 4 (09:25):
And you know why, Rob, No, because I had cervical
spinal Ah, as a.
Speaker 5 (09:34):
Guy I have.
Speaker 4 (09:35):
I have my C four C five cervical spine fused.
And guess what played three years after that? So you know,
I look at this and and and and that's why,
that's why I don't worry about it. You know, I
haven't had complications from it, and you know I got cleared.
I mean it took me eleven months. Eleven months. So
(10:00):
I was injured back in two thousand and eleven.
Speaker 5 (10:05):
Week eight.
Speaker 4 (10:06):
I sustained the injury in Cincinnati on an extra point
and field goal, and of course that year we went
all the way to Super Bowl forty five. After that,
right six and two start, I go out and Jonathan
Scott comes in, and we make it all the way
to the super Bowl and we lose Aaron Rodgers.
Speaker 5 (10:28):
Right.
Speaker 4 (10:28):
Lockout happens right afterwards, and lockout ends.
Speaker 5 (10:34):
I get released and.
Speaker 4 (10:38):
Because obviously I'm still not healthy, I'm not cleared none
of that. And then from there I sat all through
training camp.
Speaker 5 (10:49):
And I went on workouts.
Speaker 4 (10:50):
I went and went to Kansas City, I went to Minnesota,
I went to Seattle on workouts, and then week five,
I'll never forget this. I was in Detroit. I was
in Detroit work in a workout on a Tuesday and.
Speaker 5 (11:09):
Got the call. Well, actually, I take it I didn't
get the call.
Speaker 4 (11:13):
The Detroit Lions got the call because Kevin Colbert, who
formally worked for the Lions, called him and said, hey,
we're signing Starks. Go ahead, you know, send it, send
it back to Pittsburgh. And I just remember, I'm mid workout.
I'm feeling like I'm having a good workout, you know.
I'm like, man, this is I said. I think I
think I could be a Detroit Lion, right And yeah,
(11:36):
I'll never forget I forgot who the GM was at
the because he said, hey, Max here, come here. He's like, hey,
need you go wash up, you know, get your things together.
You're going back to Pittsburgh. I said, what, I'm sorry,
what what did you say? He was like he was like, yeah,
Kevin Cobert called, they're going to sign you. I was like, what, Okay,
you guys aren't gonna sign me, so no, no, Kevin say,
(11:59):
Kevin say, he's gonna sign you.
Speaker 5 (12:00):
So I I gotta send you back. I was like,
And in my head, I'm like.
Speaker 4 (12:04):
You have me here, you know. In my head, I'm like,
Steelers want me back, you know.
Speaker 5 (12:08):
And I was just I was, I was.
Speaker 4 (12:10):
I was just confused at that point, right because you know,
that was the first time I had been released, you know,
and quote unquote fired from a job, and so I
was just I was just kind of stunned because I
was like, I was like, well, they knew I was cleared,
but they didn't want me. And so in my head,
I was like, Okay, all right. So I packed my
stuff up and get on the plane and fly back home.
Speaker 5 (12:31):
And the drivers like, all right, we want straight through.
I said, well, can I drop my stuff at my house? No, no,
you gotta go straight to the facility. So I go
straight through the facility, and.
Speaker 4 (12:40):
You know, I get I get to the Steelers facility,
go upstairs. Uh Ba, Bruce arians coach Tomlin and some
other coaches are.
Speaker 5 (12:51):
In the offensive staff room going over film. I walk in.
Speaker 4 (12:55):
Yeah, They're like, hey, Max, Ay, just want to see
how you looking, man, how you feeling? And and uh,
you know, they looked at me like all right, okay,
all right, you ready to go. I was like yeah, absolutely,
and so like all right, we'll see you in the morning.
That was it was, It was all the conversations I had, went,
signed my contract, got home, saw my wife. Uh, she
(13:17):
was so happy to see me and to have me
back because you know, I was in Arizona training because
I didn't have a job, and she was working, you know,
at UPMC, and so you know, it was good to.
Speaker 5 (13:27):
Be home with my wife.
Speaker 4 (13:29):
And then yeah, went in Wednesday morning and we're going
through the lineup Sean Cougar or old line coach.
Speaker 5 (13:34):
Everybody's hey, you know, and coach Toma gets.
Speaker 4 (13:36):
It to be hey, welcome back, you know, starkey, and
uh you know, for that guys, we're gonna welcome Max
back properly, back to back padded practice.
Speaker 5 (13:44):
And everybody groaned.
Speaker 3 (13:46):
Everybody was like, oh my god, you fault.
Speaker 4 (13:50):
Yeah, it's my fault that we got double padded practices
like week five into the season. And now I get
in the meeting room and Kus is going through the
lineup for the week. He's like, all right, you know, hey,
you know, Willie, you know you're starting to right tackle.
You know, Ramone, You're you're at right guard. Pounce you're
at center, Juice aka Chris Kimayatu you're at left guard.
(14:14):
Oh yeah, and welcome back, Max. You're you're at left tack.
I said, I'm sorry, but I had played football at
that point, rob in eleven months eleven butts I hadn't
played football. And I will say this, People say, Oh,
it's like riding a bike. Is not like riding a bike,
because it's like riding a bike with somebody with with
(14:34):
that boxing glove just punching you the entire time as
you're trying to ride the bike. That's what it is.
Speaker 5 (14:40):
But I got out there.
Speaker 4 (14:41):
I got out there and you know, went through the
double padded practices.
Speaker 5 (14:45):
A little sore, but you know, I was ready.
Speaker 4 (14:47):
And then Sunday we played the Jaguars and man, I
played all but four snaps that game.
Speaker 5 (14:54):
Start to finish, they're like, Oh.
Speaker 4 (14:56):
We're gonna try to ease you and we're gonna take
you out of one series just because you We want
to make sure you're okay. We don't overstretch you. Man,
I'm playing that whole game. And we get through the
first half. I thought the series was gonna be the
first half. They're like, oh yeah, this is the way
the game went. You know, we couldn't quite get you
out there, Max, we needed you.
Speaker 5 (15:13):
And then I'll never forget this.
Speaker 4 (15:14):
He's all right, next series, you're out, and I'm like, okay,
all right, and so we go out.
Speaker 5 (15:23):
Run the series.
Speaker 4 (15:25):
It's like a five and out or something, and we're
punting and I'll never forget this. I'm coming off the sidelines,
you know, watching the punt. It's a fake punt. Monday.
Ryan Munday was a personal protector. They had a fake
direct snap to him and he got it all the
way downfield, I mean down inside, like the fifteen yard line,
and I'm.
Speaker 5 (15:44):
Going around at Koog's grassy.
Speaker 4 (15:46):
No no, no, no, no, no no no, this is your
series out. I'm like, what are you kidding me? Like
this is my series that we're at the fifteen yard
line and I'm like, so that's my series. So we scored,
and so we scored, Like, actually, I take that back.
It was all I said four plays. It was it
was like two plays. So that was my series.
Speaker 5 (16:05):
I missed too. I missed two plays that whole game.
Speaker 4 (16:07):
Like the one series I got take it out was
a scoring drive. I was like, come on, I was like,
you could, we could get a backed up series. If
you're gonna take me out, at least make it one
this hard.
Speaker 5 (16:16):
But we did.
Speaker 4 (16:17):
But but that was just so fun And then ended up,
you know, getting getting one of my only one, one
of a few game balls back then. I got a
game ball for for coming back and playing against Jacksonville.
So I cherished that game ball because those those were
hard to come by back in the day. Oh yeah,
so I still have I still have that game ball that.
Speaker 5 (16:37):
Yeah. It was it was just it was it was
a it was a fun story. Yeah.
Speaker 3 (16:41):
So it's Sante Samuel Jr.
Speaker 2 (16:42):
He's a about seven months removed from surgery at surgery
in April, and you know, I'm sure all the teams
have done their due diligence right, and he was a
popular guy. People wanted to sign him. He just turned
twenty six, had the injury last year, had been a
full time starter pretty much since his rookie year, second
(17:04):
round draft choice, and still young. You know, you think
about I'm sure fans are already thinking, well, let's see,
he's twenty six, man. If he plays well for us,
we could sign him to a multi year deal. So
let's get him off to practice squad first. Let's get
him in, Let's get him on the practice squad. Let's
get him at practice, Let's get him elevated perhaps at
some point, and let's see what we have, because it
(17:26):
is exciting and the notion of being able to pick
up somebody of this quality. Usually at this stage of
the season, you're finding somebody who's unemployed, and it's possible
you could get lightning in a bottle, but it's more
probable that you're finding somebody who is either being forced
(17:46):
to contribute because of injury or is just you know,
a break glass in case of emergency type of player.
And this pickup feels like it could potentially be more
than your average in season pickup.
Speaker 4 (18:02):
That it has the potential to be more than that,
I completely agree, And I think this is where you know,
if you're the Steelers, you know there's there's worse things
to gamble on, right that you could possibly gamble on.
This is one that feels a lot better because it's
(18:22):
more of a calculated risk that you're taking, and also
it's not so much no harm no file in this
moment because you know with with with the Sante Samuel Junior,
you know he's on practice squads. So it so, like
I said, it did not cost you a tremendous amount
(18:43):
to to get his services. You didn't have to give
up a draft pick. You didn't you didn't have to
trade a player or anything.
Speaker 5 (18:52):
You know, you you know.
Speaker 4 (18:54):
In earnest, he went to what four or five other
places and and he decided that the Steelers was the place.
I mean, he was one of those guys he had
he had his pick of the litter. I mean, he
went to what I think four other workouts, like starting
last Wednesday. He was on visits Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Monday,
and then you know size of sign with the team yesterday.
(19:18):
So you know, there's four other stops before that that
he could have signed with and for him to make
it this far and then you know, make that decision
to sign with the Steelers pretty pretty pretty big, pretty
big moment that where it could be something that could
you know, pay pay some tremendous dividends if it works
out for sure.
Speaker 3 (19:36):
So I wanted to let you know what's coming up.
Speaker 2 (19:38):
We're gonna hear from head coach Mike Tomlin in just
a little bit his comments from yesterday. We not only
have his comments about the last game and look forward
to this game, but we also have some injury updates.
There's some news regarding the team in addition to the
elevation of Will Howard and the signing of a Sante
Samuel that could have an impact in this Sunday's game.
(20:01):
So we have plenty to get to and a little
bit later on, Jim Wexel is going to be joining us.
Speaker 3 (20:06):
Want to remind you first gear up with the.
Speaker 2 (20:07):
Latest game they necessities at the official Students Pro shops.
Get the latest Sideline apparel, jerseys, terrible towels, authentic memorabilia
and custom exclusives you can only find directly from the team.
Visit one of the official Students Pro shops located at
Akroschur Stadium, Grove City Premium Outlets or Tanger Outlets, or
gear up online atshop dot Steelers dot com. Get it
direct from the team. It's a Studis Pro shop at
(20:29):
shop dot Steelers dot com. Back with more inside the
Locker Room presented by your neighborhood Ford Store and the
Steers Pro Shop on Steelers Nation Radio, a part of
the Steelers Audio Network.
Speaker 1 (20:48):
This is in the locker Room with King and Starks
on Steelers Nation Radio, presented by your neighborhood Ford Store.
The F one P fifty is the official truck of
the Pittsburgh Steam and by Steelers Pro Shop. Get it
direct from the team at the Steelers Pro Shop at
shop dot Steelers dot com.
Speaker 3 (21:09):
And thanks very much for being with us in the
locker room. So lots to get you. Jim Westle is
going to join us.
Speaker 2 (21:14):
Some interesting personnel discussions and comments from Mike Tomlin that
we're going to get to in a moment with Max.
Speaker 3 (21:23):
Starts here in the locker room.
Speaker 2 (21:24):
But first, before we get much further, let's hear from
Mike Tomlin yesterday at his weekly press conference.
Speaker 6 (21:30):
My perspective hadn't changed a whole lot on the significant
components of the game and why it unfolded the way
it unfolded. We certainly were not good enough in possession,
down play on offense, and that affected us in a
lot of ways. First and foremost, to scoreboard, you got
to possess the ball and an effort to score, and
(21:51):
certainly if you're not doing a good enough job on
possession downs, you need to have some big play splash,
and we didn't really have either.
Speaker 5 (21:58):
Sometimes you can.
Speaker 6 (22:00):
Hit a fifty yard ball or what have you and
flip the field and change the trajectory of that. And
so a combination of possession down failures coupled with a
lack of big time field flipping plays produced the outcome
that it did. At the same time, it alters your
time of possession. I thought we had the bones of
(22:20):
a really good run game by playing performance, but I
think Jalen only had fourteen carries. That happens when you
don't win enough possession downs and maintain possession of the
ball flips out. On the other side, the defense ends
up on the field the time of possession a lot.
I thought we had the bones of a good run
stopping defense for the game, but as the game we're on,
(22:42):
I thought we wore down defensively because of the imbalance
in terms of the time of possession. And so it
just speaks to the significance of playing good ball on
third down. Offensively, we certainly know that, but we certainly
suffered the consequences of not doing so. On Sunday night
in La for us, it really wasn't anything earth shattering,
(23:06):
to be quite honest with you, or things that we
haven't seen. They didn't pressure us a lot. Most people
don't pressure Aaron a lot. They did things schematically to
make us distribute the ball elsewhere other than DK. Well,
we see that week in and week out. I just think,
you know, from a planning perspective and a playing perspective,
all of us involved, coaches and players, we didn't do
(23:28):
a good enough job positioning the others to be impactful,
and the others didn't make enough plays. And that's just
the reality of it. So with that understanding, man, we
go back to work.
Speaker 2 (23:41):
Max, I couldn't agree more with everything. Mike Tomlin just
said right there. I mean, you got to possess the football,
you got to get first downs, and you got to
make plays, and the Steelers just didn't do any of
those things. He mentioned later on in the press conference
that you know, they talk about the turn over culture
for the Steelers, and that's not just about getting the
(24:04):
turnover but preventing turnovers. And when you don't make plays
on third down and you don't continue to move the
clock and you don't create turnovers and you have three turnovers.
Speaker 3 (24:16):
Of your own.
Speaker 2 (24:19):
I mean, you know, imagine like one of those you know,
you're you're let's say your job applicant write you have
pros and cons, and you're writing the pro Well, the
pros are the new job, a shorter commute, you know,
more money whatever. In the condra, they were like, if
you're looking, here's how to win a game. Okay, pros
and cons. There weren't many things in the pros column.
There were a lot of things in the con column.
(24:40):
And that's just the way the game went for the Steelers.
Speaker 4 (24:45):
Absolutely, and I think you know, Mike Tomlin, of course,
you know, summarized it very well. He had a chance
to watch that game in its entirety back as opposed
to and also living through it live and decisions that
were that were made in that game, and you know,
you could you could hear the frustration in his voice,
(25:09):
and it's something that was not anticipated. I mean, there
was there was no new issues that were presented. There
was nothing unique that the Chargers did that the Steelers
had already faced or experienced this season. And so I
think that's where the frustration lies is that you know,
we have a plan, we had the good bare bones
(25:31):
of it, right. He talked about that, and you and
I both agreed. We're like another Jalen Warren game where
you know, the average yards per touch looked good. I mean,
he had a couple of explosives in there too, Kinger,
but it just wasn't enough touches because they didn't possess
the ball. I mean, they went zero for nine before
(25:52):
they got their first third down conversion in the game,
and you can't you can't win football without that unless
you're playing Canadian football. Was like, we don't even need
third down because we get it in second down. It
wasn't it wasn't anything like that. I mean, because there
was what one first down, you know, deep into that
game for the Steelers, and the defense was doing their
job because at one point nobody had a conversion right
(26:15):
going into the end of the first half, and so
the defense doing everything, but eventually they tired out. When
you when you will you possess a football for over
thirty seven minutes as an offense, I know that defense
is tired, and it's big bodies leaning on other big humans.
You're having to push yourself up and that that that's
that Listen if I if I'm the Chargers offensive line,
(26:37):
I'm ecstatic.
Speaker 5 (26:40):
Like, do you see what we did to do?
Speaker 4 (26:42):
Do you see what we did to that squad and
all the names over there and all of the Pro Bowls,
all of the All Pros that resigned on the deep. Yeah,
it's a badge of honor when you can do those things.
But you also have to put an asterisk next to
it because it was because the offense didn't do it
any day. It wasn't because the Chargers offense. The line
was just so dominant, right, It wasn't. It wasn't like
(27:04):
the Seattle game earlier this season, right week two. It
wasn't that where you're scoring it's a back and forth
affair and you know, you're just rolling up and down
the field. It wasn't that. It was far from that.
The defense had a lot of good places. They had
five more sacks in this game. You know, that's what
(27:25):
the third time this season they've had they've had a
five sacker better game. I mean, they they did their
they did their job, they stopped them. But eventually it
comes to that point injuries mount up. Right, Darius Slave
went out of this game. Joey Porter Junior exited this
game at one point. You know, you had attrition. Isaac
(27:45):
Ciamalo doesn't play and you're having rotation at the at
the at the left guard position. That kind of threw
things off. So it wasn't like it just went swimmingly
and this was just a dominant performance. It was just
it was lack of execution versus dominance in that moment.
And so I think that's where you know, you could
(28:06):
be frustrated, but you also have to be encouraged, like
we we did this to ourselves. There's nothing that they
did right. It was completely on us. We did not execute,
We did not take advantage of the opportunities, and that
is why we lost. It wasn't because this team was
so much better than us and they just dominated us.
I mean, we could point to games last season where
(28:28):
we just absolutely got dominated, right, and it was just
better there There are eleven were better than our eleven
at any given time. That's not the case, not the
case in this game. It was just it was you know, hey,
we did this to ourselves, and we and only we
can can answer this, and only we can solve this.
Speaker 2 (28:48):
You know, when you think about people say great sound
by the meters by the way people say old school
next before your time.
Speaker 5 (28:59):
Yeah, exactly, don't worry.
Speaker 4 (29:00):
I'll get some late nineteen hundred references in.
Speaker 3 (29:02):
So when.
Speaker 2 (29:05):
You look at it, boy Jalen Warree had fourteen carries, man,
be nice if you had eighteen. So there's four. DK
Metcalf had three receptions. Be nice if he had five
or six. Okay, let's let's get you up to seven. Now,
friar Mouth three catches, maybe one more for Pat. You know,
maybe one or two more catches are carried. Carries, you know,
(29:28):
kind of sprinkled around the rest of the team. Well,
if you get first downs, that's what happens. That's what
would have happened all those guys. Dk Metcalf would have
had another reception or two. Pat Fryarmuth might have had
another reception or two. You know, maybe somebody else, maybe
game Well gets another catch, or maybe game We'll gets
a carry or two. Didn't get any carries in this game.
Maybe Jaalen's up to seventeen carries instead of fourteen carries.
(29:51):
BO when you only run fifty plays and a good
chunk of those are late in the game, when you
pretty much have to throw the football. Jalen Warren's not
gonna get the carries you want. Mike Tomlin was also asked, hey,
you know, should Jalen Warren be getting more? And he said, yeah,
first of all, at the time of possession is one thing,
and there's like, well how about third down or not
(30:13):
time of possession? Just amount of plays and they sometimes
go hand in hand obviously, but he said, look, he
can't play every single down. He can't play every down.
You got to get somebody else in there. And they
got Caleb Johnson in there, and they get game well
in there, they're trying to get the ball more to
Jalen Warren.
Speaker 3 (30:31):
I love it.
Speaker 2 (30:32):
I want to see more of Jalen Warren too. I'm
a big fan of Jalen Warren. I think he's I
think he's a terrific player. He got what thirty you
got a third of all their touches, something along those lines.
You know, if you had more touches, if you had
more actual team touches, then he'd have more touches, you know,
if you had ten more, If you had ten more,
(30:54):
you know, by that math, if you had ten more plays,
you'd have three more. If you had twelve more plays,
you'd have four more touches. So you got to be
able to move the ball. And they just and effectively
and keep drives alive. And you know, Mike Tomlin was listen, listen.
I've been around long enough a long time. These kind
of games happen, and I'm not looking for trends. You know,
(31:17):
with Cincinnati, you don't look back at the last game.
Every game presents its own child. I mean you do, obviously,
but you don't anticipate that's the way the next game
is going to go. There's too many different variables in
NFL games. But I do start to think, if there's
one issue that is that now I look at this
and yes, they've had some short fields, and he pointed
(31:38):
that out.
Speaker 3 (31:38):
You get turnovers, you get short fields.
Speaker 2 (31:40):
That means you don't win the time of possession, you're
not running as many plays to score points that haven't
been said. I think, if I'm looking for a trend
that I want to see reversed, and we mentioned this yesterday,
if there's one trend I want to see reversed on
this offense, it's get more first downs, extend drive, get
(32:01):
more plays, get everybody involved more offensively that will eventually,
you know, that's the by product of having more plays,
and scoring more points is the by product to having
more plays. Resting your defense is a byproduct of having
more plays. Maybe getting a lead could be the byproduct
and more plays, which could then allow you to unleash
(32:23):
your defense, make them one dimensional. We talked about it yesterday.
You got five sacks on Justin Herbert, and he was
trying to get rid of the ball quickly. He was
never in a position where he had to make a play.
And I think when a team has to make a
play and you've got to rested defense, that's a talented
as his Steelers. Turnovers are going to be a byproduct
of that too. To me, a lot of what's going
(32:43):
on here in these four losses and what needs to
improve for this team to reach where I think they
can reach comes down to simply converting more first downs.
Speaker 5 (32:57):
And I agree with you.
Speaker 4 (32:59):
I think you know this team has to even more
so the first just possession possessed the ball longer, and
I think that is that's kind of the overarching theme,
is possessing the ball right conversions because it comes down
to consistency of play execution, and that's something that the
(33:21):
Steelers have been struggling with, you know, consistent execution of plays,
and that's what they have. They have to get in sync,
get on the same line. By the way, great boy
band of the late nineteen hundreds, that InSync group, just
comber Lake.
Speaker 3 (33:40):
There you go.
Speaker 5 (33:40):
See. Look, I told you I was gonna get in
there somehow trying. Yeah, I am.
Speaker 4 (33:45):
You know, once again, you know, it's only far if
you make it far to be fetched. But but no,
they just it's like you see the rhythm early and
then it's but it's one thing that is off, you know.
And for last week it was a little bit of
the touch by Aaron right, some of those balls that
(34:06):
he wanted to throw a little high, a little overthrown,
you know. And then there was incidentals where guys have
to also catch the ball when it's thrown to him, right,
That's that's the other thing. And you talk about some
of those catches, you know, you know if DK, if
DK makes that one catch, right, so say he just
(34:28):
takes an angle that's a little bit deeper, not as
shallow early in the game, right when he's when he's
down there in the red zone, he beats Molden on
the deep over route and Aaron rolls out left and
throws back across his.
Speaker 5 (34:42):
Body to the right.
Speaker 4 (34:44):
And you know that's something if he makes that play
that we're talking about a brand new ball game here, right.
That play puts you potentially as scoring a touchdown instead
of the fifty nine yard field goal to put points
on the board. That's that's a that's a different type
of situation and maybe because of that, you don't get
(35:06):
a backed up situation to where you eventually take take
the safety and now it's a three two ball game.
Now you're talking about this is a seven. And now
you probably have a little bit more confidence as a unit,
so maybe you are being more competitive, maybe the drives
are starting to click there, and that would have been
your first third down conversion on that DK pass, so
(35:26):
then you weren't searching for the next three quarters for
a third down conversion. Like there's a lot of Shuitar
Kulda Wouldah's in there. But that comes down to the
lack of execution. And you know however that was that
was slated that they felt that, you know, the Andres
Pete substitution for Spencer Anderson, so that he could do
(35:49):
his tight end role. He could have a dual role
of playing tight end and guard. A guy who hadn't
played all season, had taken a snap all season, and
you're expecting him to come in first play and do that.
That's a tall ask, but you know, obviously he's a professional,
so you deal with it. He's a veteran, he should
know how to how to do those things. I've been
(36:09):
in that situation before. But he doesn't execute it, and
then boom, you're very first play of the game. You're
backed up as first of fifteen. You know, those are
just all those little things, and then you know you
have to wait an extra play to get to get
Smithseraerson and now he's taking his first real snap at
guard on third down and long versus getting into the
(36:30):
game with a run play potentially on first down and
maybe a run past screen and second down, and you're
kind of getting into the rhythm of the game, getting
to figure you know, of you know on the on
the guys you're going up against on the interior doesn't happen.
But it all comes down to execution. Your professionals figure
it out, make away extra study, whatever you need to
(36:51):
do to get yourself ready. You have to so that
you can eliminate the excuses. You can eliminate the woe
is me that moment, and the more you do, the
less you think, and the more you react, you understand that.
Speaker 2 (37:09):
I totally just how it is. Yeah, totally do yep.
I think that. I think we're both in the same page.
I think that's what you're looking to clean up. And
you're looking to clean that up against the team that
is it's got its foot to the floor and it
is looking to score a ton of points, and it
has scored a ton of points since they made the
(37:29):
switch a quarterback.
Speaker 3 (37:30):
So we will obviously get to that.
Speaker 2 (37:32):
Mike Tomlin had some injury updates, and I'm going to
talk a little bit about a player who's been affected
by those injuries in a very positive way, and we
talk about changes, you know, within the roster, whether this
particular player is moving on up to depth chart. We're
going to get to that when we continue. In the
Locker Room, presented by our neighborhood for Word Store and
(37:52):
the Steer's Pro Shop on Steelers Nation Radio, a part
of the Steelers Audio Network.
Speaker 1 (38:00):
This is in the Locker Room with kingon Starks on
Steelers Nation Radio, presented by your neighborhood Forward Store.
Speaker 5 (38:09):
The F one fifty is the official.
Speaker 1 (38:11):
Truck of the Pittsburgh Steelers and by Steelers Pro Shop.
Get it direct from the team at the Steelers Pro
Shop at shop dot Steelers dot com.
Speaker 2 (38:22):
And thanks very much for being with us as we
kind of take the turn from moping through a tough
loss Sunday night in La just a not a good
performance by the Steelers to understanding that another big game.
Weights that was too bad. That was a big game.
You know, you talk about playoff odds and all that
other stuff, and they really take a dip when you
(38:45):
lose a game like that, you know, when you know,
and that's look, every season is different.
Speaker 3 (38:51):
I understand that every path is different. I understand that too,
but you know.
Speaker 2 (38:57):
Just just this, you know, the plane straight the odds
of making the playoffs if you're you know, six and
three versus five and four, six and three teams seventy
three point three percent chance of making the playoffs since
nineteen ninety five and four teams forty seven point one percent.
So all of a sudden, you know, a loss like
(39:18):
that touch where we talk about how important a game
like that is. Now, every season's different, every season presents
different challenges. You're still in first place in the AFC
North and that's the front and center order of business
for the Steelers, and they face another big game against
the Bengals team that's still in it, that's getting a
little pep in its step with Joe Burrow returning back
(39:40):
from practice. So Max, another big game coming up on
Sunday for the Steelers.
Speaker 4 (39:47):
Another big one. And here's the thing, They're all going
to be big this time. Moving forward. You know, we
still have four division games left in these final seven.
So the concentration in the AFC North battle is.
Speaker 5 (40:03):
Is well, well, healthy and alive for three teams in
this division.
Speaker 4 (40:09):
And you don't you don't want to create the opportunities
for others by your misfortune or your lack of execution.
Speaker 5 (40:17):
So you've got to do.
Speaker 4 (40:19):
Whatever you can out of these next four out of
seven games to try and create that separation. Because right
now you sit at one and one in the division.
You have one went over Cleveland, you have a loss
to Cincinnati, and now you're seeing Cincinnati again. There's there's
nothing easy about a division game.
Speaker 5 (40:37):
And you know, to beat a.
Speaker 4 (40:38):
Team once is already hard enough. To beat them twice
is a herculean effort because they've seen your best shot.
But at the same time, you can't take it for
granted that just because you think you're better or your
roster looks better, you can't take it easy at all.
Everything has to be now pedaled to the me and
(41:01):
all gas, no breaks in the rest.
Speaker 5 (41:03):
Of these games.
Speaker 4 (41:03):
And then in between those games, you're gonna have a
Monday nighter still as it slated Monday Night.
Speaker 5 (41:10):
I always caught you that because we can't.
Speaker 4 (41:12):
We can't be flexed against the Dolphins. You have you
have a game where you're going to Detroit, who is
a very very tough team out of conference that you're
going to play, and then you're gonna have you and
then then you got the Buffalo Bills that we don't
know which Buffalo Bills we're getting, right, Are we getting
the Atlanta Falcons version where they where they lose, or heck,
the Miami Dolphins version where they get blown out, or
(41:35):
are you getting the one that went toe to toe
with the Kansas City Chiefs and also beat the Ravens.
Speaker 5 (41:40):
I don't know.
Speaker 4 (41:41):
It's like like the scale is so wide on what
Buffalo Bills team you're getting. But that's what your last
seven games look like. That's not an easy slate and
you have to be ready. You're talking about, you know,
six out of your seven potentially, well five out of seven, sorry,
five out of seven because Miami's definitely not in the
playoff race anymore. Five out of your last seven games
(42:05):
are all against potential playoff contenders. That that that that
that that's a tough slate to end the season. But
can't cry over spilled milk. Right, the schedule came out
back in May. You knew these were coming. It wasn't
like you're being surprised that. It's not like you're going
into like college and it's the college playoff. Oh, I
(42:27):
don't know where we're going week one if we make it. No,
you wait till December, you know, championship games, and then
the slotting comes out, and then boat the next week,
you're you're wherever you got to be. That's you know,
that's a tougher state. You knew where these regular season
games were going to be, and you knew who you
were going to have to go against. You knew the personnel.
Regardless of how regarded or whatever the record was. You
(42:48):
knew who that personnel was going to be, so you
have to be ready. This this is why you put
on the big boy pants. This is why you're in
the NFL. You're not in the UFL. You're not in
the XFL, You're not in this, You're not in the AFL,
you're not in any other fls.
Speaker 5 (43:04):
You're in the NFL National Football League.
Speaker 4 (43:07):
You are at the summit of the mountain and you've
got to climb to the very tippy top of it.
Speaker 5 (43:14):
And this is what it takes.
Speaker 4 (43:15):
You're going as the top one percent athletes in the
world and you've got to duke it out and see who's.
Speaker 5 (43:21):
Better in this.
Speaker 4 (43:22):
So if you want to prove your worth, if you
want to get to that immortality, this is what the
challenge looks like.
Speaker 2 (43:27):
It's never going to be easy for sure. And you
know what, Before we go to a break and we
have Jim M. Westall coming up, let's get the injury
update from Mike Tommin from yesterday's news conference.
Speaker 6 (43:42):
Injury update, Cole Holkam is still working his way back
to us Man. He'll be a limited participant to start
the week. And we'll see where that participation goes in
terms of the amount and the quality of it. Slayher
is in the concussion protocol and so we'll let the
protocol determine his availability. Pep Peppers was running in a
(44:05):
limited capacity a lot a part of last week. I'd
imagine that'll make him a limited participant tomorrow and we'll
kind of go from there. Isaac c Omalu is expected
to participate in some capacity and then kind of build
and go on from there, but we're optimistic about his return.
Scottie Miller has been cleared to practice with his broken finger,
(44:27):
and we have some other bumps and bruises associated with
play that may limit some people. And there may be
some veteran players, et cetera that we manage at the
early portions of the week this time of year, but
none of those we expect to be significant in terms
of player availability.
Speaker 2 (44:46):
So I think for me, look, there's a lot of
a lot of guys there, you know, Cole Holcom, Darius
slay obviously, but Isaac Ciamalo coming back in that left
guard position. Although later on in the news conference, Mike
Tomlins said both Andrews Pete and uh Spencer Anderson were
above the line at the left guard position, so that
(45:07):
is that's nice to know. That's good to know that
they felt that way about that.
Speaker 3 (45:10):
You still have the.
Speaker 2 (45:11):
Veteran Calvin Anderson as the backup tackle because look, you
still have to have depth that offensive line position, and
that is hard to come by quality depth. But Isaac
cmlo being back in there now unleashes you to be
able to use Spencer Anderson once again. As that you know,
first of all, you get cm oliback. He's an excellent
player obviously in his own right, but it allows you
to use Spencer Anderson in the jumbo package. Probably the
(45:33):
first more important than the second, even though as Mike
Tomlins said, Pete and Anderson were both above the line.
But as I look at those injuries, and I do
want to comment in the Darius slay one next hour,
but getting Cmli back would be a very very good
thing for this Steelers offense.
Speaker 4 (45:49):
It would it would create the balance, it would create
the symmetry, it would fill a hole and allow smister
Anderson to kind of work in the position that he's
been working in so far this season, which has been
in that jumbo extra tight end, fifth tight end, however
you want to look at it, it would it would
give you back the extra dimension in the run game
(46:11):
that you're looking for and that consistency. But it also
depends on the quality of of health that Isaac Ciamalo possesses.
You know, can he go in hole a whole game
with that peck. That's going to be the question that's
going to be asked, and that's what he's going to
have to make that determination health wise. Are you trying
to rush him back for one game? Are you trying
(46:31):
to rush him back because you need that leadership and
you need him the rest of the way moving forward.
And I would say the latter versus the earlier. I
don't want to guy back for one game. That's why
I always tell guys, I don't wish them a speedy recovery.
Speaker 5 (46:43):
I wish them a.
Speaker 4 (46:43):
Full recovery right right, because that's what's needed. You know,
a speedy recovery leads to more injuries, but a full
recovery means you put it in the rearview mirror and
you just go straight charging ahead.
Speaker 5 (46:56):
That's what that That's what I that's that's what.
Speaker 4 (46:59):
I'm hoping for, is that he gets a full recovery,
because we're gonna need him all seven of these next
regular season games, not just the next one, because our
our you know, our feet are on the fire. I
need long sustained success so that I can plan accordingly
with how we distribute the football, how we set up plays,
and what that structure in schematic looks like.
Speaker 2 (47:21):
So uh again, I do think a player has emerged.
Mike Thomas as a player has emerged. We're going to
talk to him about him coming up in the next hour.
We want to remind you that Jim Wexel is coming
up shortly when we continue in the Locker Room, presented
by our neighborhood Forard Store and the Steer's Pro Shop
on Steer This Nation Radio, a part of the Steelers
(47:42):
Audio Network
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